From November 29, 2017-January 27, 2018, the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at NYU exhibited the multi-media show “The Great Gig in the Sky: Imagining the Soundtrack to Utopia” curated by the acclaimed Beirut-based indie band, Mashrou’ Leila. The band served as Artists-in-Residence at the Kevorkian Center during Fall 2017, in which they taught a graduate workshop that culminated in this exhibition that collectively and creatively explored the limitations and advantages of music as a tool for social and political change.

Workshop students were asked to imagine musical events that would “save the world,” and this exhibition in turn invites visitors to envision these fictitious historical moments, past, present, and future. The exhibition materials featured in “The Great Gig in the Sky” -- false-news articles, reviews, interviews, lyrics, dances, video pieces, mood boards, and illustrative visual work -- are the fruits of their labor to create stories and a series of related artifacts about four fictional musical events that would catalyze political change.

To videos from the project click here!